Hi, is there a kickstart code to do a factory reset on a tivo series 3?

If you want to return it to the way it was before anyone set it up, which means it goes straight to Guided Setup as soon as it boots, and will therefore not have any shows or settings saved, then you don't do that with a Kickstart code, you go into the menus and find Clear and Delete Everything.

Could take up to 3 hours to run.

Why do you want to do this, and are you doing it to the original 250GB drive?

I can't even get to the menus, so I can't do Clear and Delete Everything.

So is there a kickstart code to do a factory reset on a tivo series 3?

What can you get to?

Do you get the initial welcome screen?

Do you get the one after that which says something about just a few more minutes?

Do you get the first screen and then a solid gray screen?

Do the lights on the front change in any way about 60 seconds after you plug the TiVo power cord into the wall socket?

I suspect you've got either hard drive or power supply trouble or both.

Both are fixable, the power supply with about $10 or so in replacement capacitors, and the drive by replacing it with a 2TB model for a little under $100 (if the current drive is actually failing physically and it's not just a case of scrambled TiVo software on a good drive).